Tales From Seal Beach: Puppy Love
by Xazz
Summary: Desmond's crush comes over for a play date and Altair sees his little brother's first kiss. -oneshot-


Currently I'm taking fic requests over on my blog (myantiquehabibi over on Tumblr). This is one of them

W/e I like a sympathetic Vidic ya'll can suck my dick. Also him as Lucy's step-dad is basically my go-to head canon for them fucking _fight me_.

* * *

He braced himself at the sound of feet, running (practically _sprinting_) down the hall towards his bedroom. "I'm gonna catch you!" he heard Malik yell and then three seconds later his door was being opened and then slammed shut, his little brother (who maybe wasn't as little as he'd like to pretend he was) bracing against it, his bull terrier, Piggy, next to him. Both of them panting. "Deeeesssmond," Malik sang through the door. "Opeeen the dooor."

"No!" Desmond cried, smiling, and from his desk Altair chuckled.

"That's my room squirt, open the door!" Malik yelled, though there was no heat, just playfulness. Desmond looked back at him hopefully, Altair just rose both his brows at him, but promising nothing. The handle on the door turned and the door began to move inward. Desmond pushed and the door shut again. "Altair, you're little angel is locking me out," Malik called.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Altair isn't in here, you're crazy," Altair said, definitely loud enough for Malik to hear.

The door bulged inward again, this time Desmond couldn't close it. With a yelp he ran over to Altair and crawled under his desk. Piggy shot under the desk after him, her short tail wagging a million miles a second. Malik stumbled through the door, nearly falling, but catching himself. "I thought you said you weren't in here," Malik teased him.

Altair made a hand motion akin to a Jedi mind trick, "I'm not. I'm just a figment of your imagination."

"Rrriight," Malik said with a smirk and walked over to him as he leaned back a bit in his chair. "So, Mr. Figment-of-my-imagination, you see where a little boy and his dog went?"

"Haven't a clue," Altair said with a shrug.

"Oh well that's fortunate, since I know how much he hates this," and Malik leaned down and kissed him. Altair grinned as he kissed him back.

"Ewwwww," Desmond said from under the desk.

"Ha!" and Malik released him and collapsed, grabbing Desmond from under the desk. Desmond screamed when Malik got a hold of him and then was screaming and laughing as Malik tickled him on the ground. Piggy barked and stood under one of Altair's knees, her tail whacking his thigh. Altair just watched them as Malik tickled Desmond until he was crying before rescuing.

He grabbed Desmond under the arms and dragged him up and away from Malik. Desmond was really _way_ too big to be held properly anymore. He was almost eleven now and was had started to hit his growth spurt and was nearly half as tall as Altair. That wasn't saying much though since Altair was pretty short for a guy. But he could still pick Desmond up with only a slight amount of difficulty. Enough to get him away from Malik. "Okay, enough," he said, hand up to Malik as Desmond caught his breath, now safe in his brother's lap from Malik's tormenting, tickling, fingers. Malik just grinned at him. "You two have too much energy today," he informed them both.

"Yeah," Malik agreed, all smirk.

"Don't you have a job to be at or something?" Altair huffed. Since really, what the hell?

"Altair, it's Saturday. I don't work on Saturday."

Well that explained a lot, since Altair worked Saturday nights. "Too much energy," he said again. "We're going to the beach."

"We always go to the beach," Desmond whined.

"Are you really complaining about the beach?" Altair rose an eyebrow at him.

"Not really," he admitted.

"Exactly, now get Piggy ready and put on your trunks," and he pushed his little brother off his lap.

"Okay, c'mon Piggy," and he snapped his fingers at the bull terrier who was still under Altair's legs. The dog hopped to her feet and followed obediently. Even though she wasn't the most normal dog for her brother's condition she was well trained, she enjoyed the challenge most of the time actually, kept her brain busy and not chewing the furniture.

"Don't look at me like that," Altair warned once Desmond had left.

"Look at you like what?" Malik asked, smirking at him.

"_That look_," he growled.

"I. Have no idea what you're talking about," Malik said leaning down to kiss him.

"That's the look you get when you're about to be naughty," Altair grumbled.

"I am the most well behaved man ever," Malik said, sounding scandalized.

"Sure you are," and Altair pushed him away. "Get dressed, we're going to the beach," he said, standing.

"How long?"

"I dunno. Maybe lunch? Though I have work tonight."

"Oh hell yeah," and Malik quickly scuttled to the closet, throwing off his shirt as he went. "Should I call anyone?" he asked as Altair got out of his chair and Altair heard Malik's belt hit the floor. Well if that didn't send a spike down Altair's spine nothing would.

"If you want," Altair shrugged, "Tell them food _is not_ on me though," and he went to his door. "Pack up the car while I make some sandwiches."

"I'll call Mike down, see if he'll drag his sugar daddy to the beach," they both laughed as Altair left, "And the Winchesters?" he called.

"If I see Dean I'm ganna kill him," he called back.

"So is that a no?"

He didn't bother to answer as he went to the kitchen and pulled out bread and cold cuts and mayo. He left the cheese and mustard out of Desmond's two sandwiches and was working on them when Desmond came out from the hall in his swim trunks and shirt, Piggy in her 'work dog' harness. "Altair," he said, leaning on the counter, propping his chin up as Malik walked behind him for the door.

"Yeah?" he asked, the door opening and closing behind him.

"Can one of my friends come?" he asked, rocking back and forth a little.

"Uh, which one and we'll see," Altair said.

"Clay?"

"Yeah, sure, Clay can come, if his dad says it's okay," and he pulled out his phone and called Harold. It was a short conversation, "Okay, I understand," and he hung up at the end, "Sorry bud, Clay can't come, he's got a cold."

"Awww, what about Shaun?"

"No."

"Awww, why not?" Desmond whined.

"Because Shaun turns into a lobster at the beach, remember?" he asked his brother sternly.

"Yeah, I know, it's great," and he beamed at his brother. Altair rolled his eyes.

The door opened again, "Car's packed," Malik announced.

"And lunch is made," Altair said, having wrapped the sandwiches in wax paper and put them in bags.

"I got it, go get dressed," Malik said taking possession of the food and Altair went to change into his board shorts.

—

Mike had met them at the beach with (unsurprisingly) his brother, but also (very surprisingly) his 'sugar daddy'. They rarely saw Harvey, pretty much never actually, even though he'd helped Altair keep custody of his brother seven years ago. But he'd come and was hanging out at the beach. Sam also showed up with his fiance, Jess, and she and Harvey agreed they'd watch the cooler and Piggy when Desmond wasn't on the beach.

"So, when are you getting married again?" Altair asked Sam once they were out on the water. They were watching the waves carefully since they were being inconsistent today.

"October," he said, "Halloween is Jess' favorite holiday. It's… kinda Halloween theme," he admitted.

"So do we get to dress up in scary costumes?" Mike asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess, if you want," Sam shrugged.

"Awesome!"

"You seriously making Dean your best man?" Malik asked.

"Well, he _is_ my brother."

"Yeah he's also kinda a dick," Altair rolled his eyes.

"He's my _brother_ okay?" Sam huffed, "I thought we were going to surf, not discuss my wedding. Fuck I know you're all gay but _really_?" and Malik flipped his board for that. He, Malik, and Mike exchanged high fives for that. "Uhg, really?" Sam asked once he'd surfaced. "Maybe I should ask when _you're _getting married?" he shot them all pointed looks and they suddenly found the sky or their surfboards very interesting.

"Good set good set," Mike said, having ignored everything Sam just said and started to paddle. Malik joined him but Altair stayed out with Sam as his friend pulled himself up onto his board.

Sam opened his mouth, "Don't ask," Altair said before he could say anything.

"Fine, whatever," Sam moped. "Catch the next wave?" he asked.

Altair looked behind him, "Yeah," it was a good wave.

They were out in the surf for a while before Altair let a wave take him back to shore, lazily moving his board back and forth through the water towards the big blue beach umbrella. Malik had gotten a new one when Rich had moved to go to school in Oregon, but it was still bright and obnoxious, and a perfect land mark on the beach. He picked his board up as he got closer to shore and grinned when he saw Jess and Sam were laying on a big towel in the sun. Harvey looked like he was napping under the umbrella, only his lower legs in the light.

"Desmond," he called not seeing his brother. "Oi, love birds, seen my brother?" he asked Sam and Jess.

"Uh," Sam said smartly.

"Last I saw he was heading that way," Jess pointed south down the beach, towards more people.

"Thanks," and he undid the ankle leash, laying his board fins up on the sand next to Sam's and headed in the direction Jess had pointed. He looked for his brother, but also for Piggy, who should be close to his brother. That was, after all, the point of all that training she went through. "Desmond!" he called again once he was closer to more of the people. "Piggy!" no answer, he sighed and continued walking.

He walked for another five minutes, still unable to find him, when he just decided fuck it. He didn't usually do this in public, it freaked people out after all. But he needed to find his brother. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again the world was grayed out. He scanned the beach for blue, knowing he wouldn't find it normally. He saw it out in the water, behind him, the direction he'd come, his friends. In front of him it took a second but then he saw a flicker of blue out on the shore.

He blinked and the gray went away. He still didn't know _how_ he could do that, or _why_. He just could, and not many others could. It didn't matter, he didn't so it much.

He headed for where he'd seen the spark and, surprisingly, found his brother building a sand castle with another kid. Piggy had dug herself a hollow in the sand and was laying in the sun, panting, like she'd just gotten done running around chasing balls. "Desmond!" he called. His little brother's head snapped up.

"Altair!" he called and waved as he moved closer. He was surprised that his brother had golden eyes. Usually they started to hurt when he did it too long (cause he could do the whole graying and colors thing too. It was weird since they weren't related).

He hunkered down next to his brother, "Who's your friend?" he asked, nudging his brother and sending a grin to the girl across the sand castle. She grinned back nervously at him.

"Ah— this is Lucy," his brother said awkwardly and blinked a few times, his eyes out of sync with each other and his irises went back to brown. His head was probably starting to hurt.

"Hello," she said shyly to Altair.

"Hey," he said, "I'm Desmond's big brother, Altair. You drag him all the way over here?"

"Uhm," she ducked her head.

"I came on my own thanks," Desmond said sounding offended. "Piggy brought me," he added and the terrier lifted her head to look at the brothers a moment before flopping back down on the sand, tail thumping.

"Well it's time for lunch," Altair said.

"Oh, okay," Desmond looked at Lucy and he wondered how much his brother was seeing. He tried not to think about it actually. "Can she come?" he asked.

Altair looked around, "Where are your parents?" he asked the little blonde.

"Over there," she pointed to an older gentleman and a much younger woman (trophy wife?) sitting with an umbrella. "That's my mom and step-dad," she said.

"Okay, give me a second," and he hopped to his feet and went over to the umbrella. The woman was laying in the sun, on her stomach, the man was under the umbrella in a shirt in shorts. "Hello?" he asked.

The man, who was reading a book from behind his sunglasses, looked up at him. "Can I help you?" his voice was gruff and Altair had flashbacks of every professor he'd ever had in college. Oh joy.

"Yeah, Hi, I'm Altair Miles. My brother is making friends with your daughter," he pointed towards Lucy and Desmond, the little girl waved at them and her step-father rose a hand back.

"That's nice," he said, "Warren Vidic," he wasn't familiar, so that was good he didn't teach at UCLA so he wasn't worried about stupid college things coming to nip him in the butt if this went further then right now. He was always thinking about this sort of stuff.

"I know this might be, kinda weird," he admitted, his fingers rubbed together, only a little nervous. He might be grown and an adult and taking care of a kid, but he was still young and guys like Warren, who were obviously authority figures, still made him nervous. He just had that _dad_ look and anyone who knew Altair knew Altair had 'dad' issues all over the place. "But would it be okay if your daughter joined us for lunch?"

Whatever Warren had expected him to say it most certainly wasn't _that_. It took him a moment to respond, "Where are you guys at?"

"Uh, well," he pointed north, up the beach. "See that blue umbrella in the distance?" he asked, it wasn't too far, only about five minutes away by walking, and visible even this far. Warren made a noise that he did, "That's us."

Warren nodded and looked Altair up and down before looking past him, "Lucy!" he called and beckoned to her. Altair turned and watched her hop to her feet, dusting off her knees of sand, and pad over to them. "This young man is inviting you to lunch," he said.

"I can go?" she asked, now excitedly.

That seemed to be enough for her step-father, "Certainly."

"Ya! Thank you!" and she hugged him.

"Desmond," Altair called, "Time for lunch." His brother scrambled to his feet, Piggy standing also and shaking off sand, and he grabbed onto her harness lead, coming over to him. Well, they had a plus one now. Good thing he'd made extra sandwiches. He had a feeling they'd be ordering more food anyway with the animals he was with though.

—

After that Lucy just… started showing up at Altair's house. Okay it wasn't like she just sprung up out of the ground, but Altair got Warren's number and she came over, or Desmond went to their, really fucking _big_, house in one of the nicer neighborhoods closer to L.A. She just liked everyone too, and Piggy _adored_ her, more then she liked even just normal people. She was a good kid and Altair didn't mind having her around since she kept his hyper brother and friends mostly in order.

She'd come over today, as she did. Usually she visited once or twice a week, since they lived a ways away, about half an hour or so depending on traffic. A car with a driver that wasn't her mother or her step-father always brought her to Altair's house and then usually stayed near by until she wanted to go home. Altair was sort of brain fucked with how much money Warren had to have to afford a private driver just to take his daughter to visit a friend.

It was shockingly obvious when she was with Desmond and his friends that she was from a very different life.

Or maybe it was because she was a girl and all of Desmond's friends were boys. Okay Rebecca _wasn't_ a boy but she was pretty tomboyish and sometimes he forgot that 'Bec' wasn't actually a boy and was actually a girl. She didn't seem to mind either way. Lucy was the only girl who acted like a girl, though she was a bit of a tom boy herself.

He was never more glad in his life that his house had a backyard then when the entire fucking flock of Desmond's friends came over. He'd banish them to the backyard when they started to get too annoying and lay with Malik on the couch, or hunch over his laptop surfing the web.

Though sometimes Lucy came over and none of the others were there. Altair usually worked nights, because the restaurant he worked at was only open for lunch and dinner. He came home before midnight some nights, other times he didn't. Malik had learned a while ago not to wait up (even if he sometimes still did). The days where it was just him, Desmond, and Lucy in the house were nice, and quiet.

A little _too_ quiet actually.

Piggy was laying at his feet, sleeping, where he was sitting on the couch. He couldn't hear anything coming from the back yard, or the rest of the house except the sound of the TV as he tried (he really was trying) to not rot his brain on bad daytime TV. He usually didn't by watching movies or just ignoring it all together.

Piggy grunted in her sleep as he got up from the couch and went to check on his brother. He wasn't too worried anything had happened to him. They weren't _that_ good to have gotten into his house without him noticing, not with a scrappy boy like his brother at least. Piggy would have noticed and started barking if she smelled strangers around the house anyway.

He went to his brother's room, the door was slightly open. It always had to be open at least half way when one of Desmond's friends were over. Gender didn't matter. Friends over, door was open, Altair had to know what his brother was doing if required, especially if something bad happened.

Altair peered inside, not wanting to disturb anything that was going on if it was all okay. He smiled. Desmond and Lucy were on his floor, doing a jigsaw puzzle. Legally blind his fucking ass his brother could still do a jigsaw puzzle with his fucking eyes closed. He smiled, it was cute, as he hadn't seen his brother do a puzzle in a while. Usually he was busy reading or doing math. He was like Altair in that at least, he was good at math, had a mind like a computer. He pulled out his phone, wanting to take a picture and save it for later, again, cause it was cute.

"I still don't know how you can do this," Lucy said.

"Do what?" Desmond asked, fitting a portion he'd been working on into a corner.

"You're blind," she said.

"Says the doctors," was all Desmond said. "I can see good enough. You just have to know," he paused a second and fit three pieces together in rapid succession, "how to look," he grinned at the blonde girl. "Doctors don't know a lot about stuff," he added.

"Yeah, well," she pouted. "It's a bit unfair a blind boy is better at this then me!"

Desmond laughed, "It isn't hard though," and he moved around the puzzle to sit next to her. "See, these two pieces go together," he said after feeling the edges and fit them together. "It's not about the picture. That's just distracting really, it's about how the pieces fit together. My brother bought me a few all white puzzles when I was younger, those were fun. No distracting pictures," he fit a few more pieces together before pressing them into the growing image. Lucy didn't say anything, she was just looking at him, though Altair couldn't see her face at this angle. Desmond sensed her looking at him, and he turned to her, his eyes finding about where her face was, "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she said, "You're just amazing."

His brother flushed and Altair grinned to himself, now just leaning against the door jamb. He was literally about to vomit they were being so cute. "No I'm not," Desmond said humbly. He'd gotten that from Altair. At least it wasn't a complex. Oh that would have been a _joy_.

"Yes you are," and he bit his tongue when she leaned over and kissed his brother, who took a second to kiss her back. His phone made the shutter sound of the camera taking a picture and he didn't realize he'd been taking a picture till just then.

They jerked apart and bright red Desmond yelled, "Altair!"

Sheepishly Altair stuck his head into his brother's room, "I didn't see anything," he said.

"You better delete that!"

"No way you two are adorable," Lucy had her face in her hands, embarrassed. "My baby bro's first kiss. How cute is that?"

"Altair!" and Desmond jumped to his feet and ran for the door. Altair leapt away and sprinted to his own room, quickly closing it behind him and bracing against it. "You better delete it!" Desmond called.

"In a second!" and Altair brought up his texting app.

'You owe me a hundred bucks and dinner,' he texted Malik and sent the picture along with it. He then eased up on the door and Desmond fell through. He surrendered his phone to his little brother who scowled at him, golden eyed, in a way only eleven year olds can scowl at you, and deleted it from his phone.

"Dick," Desmond muttered, shoving his phone back at him and going back to his own room.

"Love you too little bro!" Altair called after him, smiling the whole time.


End file.
